Oh No!!! Another Ticket??? How Not to Get a Ticket

“Oh no! Another Ticket?!?! How not to get a ticket

By: Lt Kenneth Lawless

Campaign: Improve Safety by Being Informed

The Norristown Police Department is constantly working to increase the safety in our communities and improve the quality of life of our residents. Analyzing the data, it is noticeable that tickets for parking violations are a problem, which is the reason for educating our residents about it. In this article, we will explain why a ticket can be issued and the ways in how not to get a ticket.

We understand that finding legal parking is sometimes difficult, especially in a town with dense housing designed two hundred years ago without considerations of vehicles and parking. Parking tickets can be issued by the Norristown Police, Parking Enforcement, and the Norristown Fire Department. Enforcement of parking rules is primarily to provide equal opportunities for the use of spaces, for safety, and maintenance.

We will start with maintenance reasons. All streets are posted with No Parking signs noting a day and 4-hour time range. The signs are for street sweeping and other maintenance needs. In times of snow storms, these street sweep routes are also used to assist with clearing snow from the streets. To avoid the chances of getting tickets, move your car during these designated times and refer to the Norristown website for the emergency snow route and enforcement.

Equal opportunities for parking means it is important for Norristown business districts and the Courthouse area. These areas are governed by parking meters. It is illegal to park in a metered space without paying at the kiosk or meter between 8:00 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday to Friday. Metered parking allows more people to utilize these spaces to conduct business or shop. It is important to comply to avoid getting ticketed.

Finally, the third reason for issuing a ticket is for safety reasons. Our most frequent violations are for blocking crosswalks, no parking here to corner, parking within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection, within 15 feet of or blocking fire hydrants and handicap parking. Crosswalk, here to the corner and within 20 feet of a crosswalk at an intersection are all to ensure cars have adequate lines of sight at intersections and for pedestrians to safely cross traffic.

The hydrant violation poses a serious public safety issue because firefighters might not be able to connect to a hydrant in a fire incident. Cars fully blocking a hydrant are ticketed and towed. Handicap parking on public streets is privately rented spaces by a homeowner with a documented handicap. These spaces are not for anyone with a handicap tag but instead only for the house in which the space is located in front of. The signs will have the address on them for reference.

We hope this information helps you to understand our parking rules better and leads to a ticket free parking experience. We are currently in the process of upgrading and making our metered parking areas more user-friendly. More information will be made available once the upgrades begin to be put in place. If you do need to pay a parking ticket, and there is an incentive for paying tickets within five business days, the information on paying online is printed on the ticket. We also have a payment kiosk located on the first-floor lobby of the Municipality. Unpaid tickets are sent to the magisterial district courts for processing and issuance of citations and warrants. Court fees more than double the cost of the initial parking fines. So please park legally and if you do get a ticket address it early.

For anonymous reports, please use our Crime Tip Line and let us help you. Call us at 610-278- 8477 or send us an email at NPDTips@norristown.org